TriRock... TriBrick? Philly!

Posted by Samantha Kennedy on Tuesday, June 30, 2015
After the LifeTime Triathlon series announced that they cut their pro prize purse and the 5150 series was also cut, I was left with very few options for pro races that wouldn't blow the bank because of plane ticket prices.  After remembering what a great time my pro triathlete friend Abby Geurink had at TriRock Philly, I decided to look into the race.  Turns out, Johnson & Johnson decided to pay for the pro prize purse, a cool $25,000, that the race had when it was part of the 5150 series.  A quick Google Maps search showed it was just barely in driving range at about 10 hours.  I then set to work convincing my number one supporters, my husband and my parents, to join me for the race.  AKA, to convince my dad to drive me to the race!  Of course it worked, I can have a very sweet and convincing face when I try!

For some reason, I always think other states are flat.  But as we entered Pennsylvania, we were shocked by the gorgeous, but very mountainous, scenery.  After passing through a couple tunnels through the mountains, I decided to check out the elevation map for the race course.  Probably should have done that much earlier!  And indeed the course was full of steep uphills and fast descents, with a ridiculous number of turns thrown in for added fun!  On top of the crazy elevation changes was the daunting issue of the weather.  Philly had been rocked by some crazy storms, which caused the river to be a brown slurry with a faster than normal current.  They announced that the sprint triathlon, held the day before the Olympic, would be changed to a duathlon.  At 1 pm on Saturday, they announced the Olympic would also be a duathlon.  My heart sank.  Another duathlon?!  I like to think of the swim as a way to even the field against the strong runners.  I read my email fully and my heart lifted a bit when I saw the format would be bike-run.  At least I wouldn't have to run twice!  

The day of the race was crazy early and my alarm went off at 3:30 am.  With a 6:30 am start, that was the latest I could push it!  It was still raining outside, so I did my usual warm up run on the treadmill.  Then I grabbed the rest of the crew, including my dad who was also racing, and we headed over to the race course to brave the mud of transition.  There are benefits to being in the pro division and in this case it was our own transition area on slightly higher, and thus drier, ground!  I did a quick bike warm up to get a little bit of a feel for the technical course, finished setting up my transition and... waited.  Always hurry up and wait on race day!  They sent the men first in true time trial style, sending each racer individually about 20 seconds apart.  After the men, it was our turn to line up.  



Before I knew it, the official was tapping my shoulder and I was moving forward over the timing mat and to the mount line.  All the pros had decided to start in their bike shoes as it would likely be quicker.  Unfortunately I fumbled to get my cleat on top of my peddle and lost a few seconds there.  Todd assured me it was "par for the course" with the other pros.  Then I was off, trying to chase down the girl who had started in front of me!  It is hard to see where anyone else is on the course because there are so many ups and downs and turns.  

As I was approaching the first big uphill, the girl who started behind me flew past.  I set my jaw, bumped down my gearing and followed her, careful to stay out of the 10 meter by 2 meter draft zone.  I kept her in my sight and used her fast pace to help me pass one of the girls who had started in front of me.  But the bike course was absolutely NUTS!  It was also a complete blast!  It seemed like every descent was followed by a sharp turn, which was followed by a short stretch of flat, which was followed by another steep uphill.  I became very friendly with my small chain ring and frequently felt I was on the edge of losing control of my bike!  I knew the hills and technical course would result in a slow bike, but I pushed my pace through the first lap and was determined to hold that pace for the second lap.  

With so few Olympic races with prize money, this race boasted an extremely stacked field.  Both Sarah Haskins and Alicia Kaye were racing, along with the Wassner twins and many other top pros from Canada and even Australia!  I was in the final 3rd of the bike when 2 girls caught up to me.  Determined not to fall any farther behind, I kept pace with them and followed them into transition. 

I was worried about the effect such a hilly bike course would have on my legs for the run!  I slipped through the mud on my way to my bike rack, keeping my eyes on the pro just ahead of me, who I know is a strong runner.  I left transition just behind her and settled into what felt like a good pace.  She initially pulled away from me, but then the distance between us remained steady.  I focused on my form and kept her in view.  I knew that she was already ahead of me by about 60 seconds because of the time trial start, but one of the biggest lessons I learned from last season is to focus on my own race.  There is absolutely no point in comparing myself to any other racer, pro or not, on a given day.  All I can do is give the best that I have on the day!  My other goal, with my newly turned over racing leaf, is to race happy!  I gave thumbs up to other pros as they headed the other way (the run was a 2 loop out and back) and waved at the crowd whenever they started cheering as I passed by.  The crowd was just awesome, they saw my name on my uniform and would call out encouragement and "go Kennedy!"  How cool is that?!  Very cool :)  



My watch beeped for my mile splits and I was a little shocked!  The splits, in the 6:30 range, were faster than any I had ever posted in a race and by a decent amount!  After my second hip surgery in the fall, I spent hours and hours at MSU Rehabilitation with a gait specialist who helped me to learn how to run with proper form.  I spent hours on the Anti-Gravity treadmill staring at live video of my feet.  And now it was all paying off!  My form felt strong and I pushed to hold on to this new pace.  

As mile 5 approached, I realized that I was starting to gain on the pro ahead of me.  I decided to throw in a 20 step surge as my coach had me practice and pulled even with her.  I smiled, breathlessly told her good job and encouraged her to come with me.  She had been my rabbit for the past 5 miles, so I wanted to encourage her to keep pushing as well.  Eventually I pulled away, trying to push my pace faster.  I wanted sub-6:40s!  The finish line came in view and I sped up a bit as I crossed the finish line with a big smile and a new 10k PR, averaging 6:36 pace!  



I try to learn something from every race because 10 times out of 10, your race will not go as planned!  For the 2nd time this season, the swim had been cancelled.  And when I heard that news, I let myself become discouraged and down, believing I wouldn't have a good race.  But my family, ever encouraging and awesome, pulled my head out of my butt and helped me to re-focus on goal number 1: being the best I can be on that day.  And look what happened!  I had my best 10k ever, I finished 12th in an extremely stacked professional field that had 18 pro women starting and had a great race!  I also got to chat with Alicia and Sarah, which is just totally cool.  I've also realized something about what I had always thought of as this very daunting professional division: these women are just really cool people.  And I am very lucky and blessed to be able to race with them and call them my friends.  

Speaking of being blessed, I am also ridiculously blessed to have such an amazing family!  My mom, who is not really a sports type of person, trucked around in the mud and rain YET AGAIN to support me.  And my husband, who is always my number one support, sat in a car for a total of 22 hours on his 3 day weekend off from work to support me and this crazy cool journey of racing professionally.  And, last but not least, my dad drove almost all of those 22 hours AND walked over 5 miles with my mom touring Philly while I laid on the couch AND raced!  Talk about a super dad!!  Looking back, I can't believe I almost gave all of this up because I wasn't racing for the right reasons.  The idea that I could earn respect, love, honor or worth with a podium finish almost cut my journey short.  But now I am seeing there is so much more to racing!  Thank you Kathi for encouraging so many of us to come forward and share.


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